Archive for June, 2007

Thing one: I did wind up taking Ben to the doctor’s office today, even though our regular pediatrician is out of town, I just couldn’t wait. He is so uncomfortable when eating, and so unhappy. And who likes to throw up? Anyway, the doctor does seem to think he has Reflux (GERD: Gastroesophageal reflux disorder…though GERD sounds like something you do to get your sibling to do something you know will get them in trouble. I used to GERD my sister all the time…it’s like poking with a sharp stick)….ANYWAY. He is now on an acid reducer, let’s hope this works!!! She said it may not stop all the spitting up, but it will make him feel better.
More good news, even with the picky eating (gotten worse lately) and the throwing up, Ben did gain weight, which means the pediasure is working. he weighed sixteen pounds even today. That makes me feel better. 🙂
Thing two: a few weeks ago I mentioned in passing that we were having trouble in trying to find out if insurance would pay for Ben’s physical therapy over the summer. To make a long story short, they are going to pay, which is very good news, because Ben can go to therapy twice a week all summer! He is doing very very well right now, and hopefully he’ll be sitting up by the end of the summer! Go Ben!
It’s such a relief when things go well for a change. 🙂

Tonight: New Horizons Concert Band, 7:00 PM, Hess-Hathaway Park in Waterford. Come see old people play instruments. Contrary to what you might think, we’re actually not that bad. And if that isn’t an endorsement, I don’t know what is. 🙂

One of the sweet things I get to see all the time because I stay home: Ben’s friend Naeem comes over to play, and I’m sitting behind Ben helping him sit up. It’s a good time to do this, because Ben is more interested in working hard to sit when Naeem is here.
Naeem will get toys and bring them to Ben until he finds one that Ben wants to play with, one that Ben will grab for, then he will give that toy to Ben and go get another one, sit down and play with Ben.
Or, Naeem once was sucking his thumb and Ben was watching with Big Eyes (capitalized on purpose). Naeem took his thumb out and offered it to Ben, who grabbed it with two hands and put it in his own mouth. No matter how much we fight the germ battle things like this will still happen, but it was so CUTE. Those two will share anything. 🙂
It makes my heart swoon.

Anyway, here’s what’s on our minds here at Chez Randall. As I mentioned, we went to the doctor a few weeks ago and Ben hadn’t gained any weight, in fact, after his hospital stay, he had lost weight…the doctor put him on Pediasure to get some calories in his diet, so we’ve been going with that for the past two weeks. BUT….here’s the thing. Ben vomits. A lot. Like, once a day, often more than once a day. Here’s the story. Ben has always thrown up a lot, but when he was a baby we just figured that he was spitting up and all kids did this. We actually heard from a lot of people “all kids do that”, so we let it go. What people failed to clarify is that kids “spit up”…as in a little bit. They do not regurgitate an entire ten ounce bottle of formula into your waiting burp cloth. Scott and I, being ignorant of all things baby, had NO IDEA that this was not normal. And as he started solids, we just figured “oh, Ben has a hair-trigger gag reflex”. He would go through stages of eating, not eating, etc. And he was gaining weight…slowly, but we figured that it was all his heart doing that. Now, looking back, I realize how INCREDIBLY STUPID we look for not realizing sooner that things were not okay…but it was hard to see.
At any rate, I’m starting, slowly, to wrap my feeble mind around some things. Like the fact that Ben still throws up a lot, that he had those two episodes of vomiting bloody mucous, which were chalked up to irritation on his tonsils and throat (irritation which was of an indeterminate nature, I might add), the fact that he doesn’t want to eat (well, I hate to throw up too…so if I throw up, guess what? I DON’T WANT TO EAT). I feel incredibly dumb. I should have been bringing this up with his doctor a long time ago, but I never put everything together. And it’s only now that it’s really all come together and been a huge issue. So we have been keeping track of what Ben eats, how much, and when he vomits. So far there is NO connection between the type of food, amount of food, timing of food, time of day or anything else. He’ll vomit anything, any time. I’m starting to think he has some reflux issues.

Gee, you think?

I’m being hard on myself about this for not noticing it earlier, but I feel terrible for the little guy. So we’ll get it sorted out. I called the doc to see about taking him in early, but doc is on vacation for two weeks and I really want Ben to see HIS doctor about this, not one of the other pediatricians in the office. We have a week and a half until we go, and I can’t wait. Neither can Ben, I think.